New Spanish law proposed that would regulate loot boxes and remove gambling elements

New law aims to differentiate between loot boxes and gambling to better regulate both.

A new gaming law will come into effect in Spain to regulate loot boxes in video games, the government of the European country has announced. Regulation surrounding gambling and loot boxes has come thick and fast to Europe in recent years, particularly in Belgium and the Netherlands where games have been prevented from going on sale.

However, the official statement from the Spanish government, via Reuters, is pretty strong, referencing “thoughtless, compulsive or even pathological” consumers. They’re also targeting the growth of NFTs and cryptocurrency-adjacent assets as part of the wider remit dealing with things that have actual value.

Alberto Garzon, the Minister of Consumer Affairs, is the one bringing the law forward, wanting Spain to be a “pioneer in Europe” on these matters. He describes it as the first “specific law” of its type to target loot boxes and video game incentives, rather than being part of larger gambling laws.

The core of it is classing what comes out of loot boxes as having actual value beyond that which it is given by the game. No doubt the lawyers of Blizzard and EA will be on the phone to explain that you can’t sell Overwatch hero skins or individual FUT cards for real money, but the NFT angle is what Garzon hopes to use to put it all under one banner.

Of course, they don’t want to confuse things. Garzon wants a “clear distinction” between loot box designs and games of chance from traditional gambling – and then a way to say to developers ‘you must do x and not y.’

This law has been proposed because but not as part of a larger ongoing process in Spain to redefine gambling laws.

Written by GLHF.